Stories for March 20th 2017

France's presidential election moves into high gear this Monday when the top five contenders face off in a TV debate that could help sway legions of undecided voters, a month before they go to the polls. Centrist frontrunner Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen are expected to come under attack in the first of three debates ahead of the April 23 opening round in France's most unpredictable election in decades.

Tony Blair has said Labour must back staying in the European Union to “recover its strategic grip on affairs and be competitive”. The former prime minister said he was not being disloyal, but that it is simply not credible to pretend that his party’s position is anything other than “serious”.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is to warn Prime Minister Theresa May she will “shatter beyond repair” the notion that the UK is a partnership of equals if she turns down a request from the Scottish Parliament to hold a second independence referendum.

Financial leaders of the world's biggest economies dropped a pledge to keep global trade free and open, yielding to an increasingly protectionist United States after a two-day meeting in Germany failed to yield a compromise.

Brazil's President Michel Temer has sought to reassure foreign trade partners that the corruption scandal engulfing the country's meat industry does not mean its products are unsafe. Meeting ambassadors from Europe, the United States and China to share a barbeque, Temer said his government remained confident about the quality of Brazilian meat.

Argentine Veterans and relatives of fallen in Malvinas had a surprise for Nobel Peace Prize Adolfo Perez Esquivel and his party of fourteen, including a founder of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, when they landed in Buenos Aires airport after spending a week in the Falkland Islands where they travelled with a “peace, dialogue and sovereignty” message to the Islanders.